Mr Trump, who this weekend became the first US President since the 1980s to skip the White House Correspondent's Dinner, was introduced by vice President Mike Pence. Mr Pence got the crowd riled up by claiming Mr Trump put the fear into Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS).

"Thanks to President Donald Trump, ISIS is on the run in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan; and we will not rest until we've destroyed ISIS once and for all."

On taking the stage, Mr Trump further excited the crowd, this time against the mainstream media which he accused of peddling "fake news".

He said polls showed the public's faith in the media was at an all-time low, and got the crowd chanting "media suck".

Mr Trump interacted with the crowd sporadically throughout the speech, kicking a protester out and congratulating another crowd member on their 'Blacks for Trumps' sign.

He boasted of a number of successes he claims to have had during his initial days in office, including scrapping the "horrible, disastrous" Trans-Pacific Partnership which he deemed a "hoax".